


7 Failed Engagements

by hopelocklet



Series: 12 Days Of (Drarry) Christmas [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 11:03:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13145322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopelocklet/pseuds/hopelocklet
Summary: Draco has been engaged multiple times, but it never works out. He tells his parents that he’s finally found the one, but then his fiancé breaks up with him and he has to get Harry to pretend to be his fiancé for Christmas at the Manor.





	7 Failed Engagements

The last person Harry expected to find outside his door two days before Christmas was Draco Malfoy. But there Malfoy was on his doorstep, looking effortlessly gorgeous despite the blizzarding winds.

“Come in,” Harry said, not quite sure what else to say. He and Malfoy were now friendly, but they were barely friends. Harry couldn’t come up with an explanation as to why Malfoy would be at his house.

Luckily he didn’t have to, for Malfoy stated frankly as he settled on Harry’s loveseat, “Potter, I need you to pretend to be my fiancé.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Harry said. 

“I need you to pretend to be my fiancé. Would you? Please?” Malfoy folded his hands on his lap politely and looked patiently at Harry as he awaited a response.

“I’m gonna need some background information, Malfoy.”

Malfoy sighed. “My fiancé, Gunnar, broke off our engagement this morning. Which would be all fine and dandy had I not told my parents that I would be bringing my betrothed to Christmas Eve lunch tomorrow.”

“Oh, Malfoy, I’m sorry, I didn’t even know you were engaged.” If Harry had known Malfoy was engaged, maybe he wouldn’t have gazed longingly at him so much when he saw him at the Ministry.   
“ _ Were  _ being the key word. Anyways, will you do it? Pretend to be my fiancé? My parents never met Gunnar, and I never even told them his name, so they’ll buy it if you pretend to be him.”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Malfoy? I mean, you two just broke up today. Maybe you should go home and get some rest. And I’m sure that if you tell your parents the truth, they’ll understand.” Harry joined Malfoy on the seat, trying to be a comforting presence. 

Apparently Harry wasn’t doing too good of a job of that, because then Malfoy snapped, “Do you even know how many times I’ve been engaged?”

“Er, I think I saw something in the Daily Proph-”

“Seven! Seven times! And just guess how many engagements of mine have been broken!”   
“Seven?”

“Exactly, seven! So I will not, under any circumstances, let down my parents yet again on Christmas Eve!” Malfoy had abandoned his polite way of sitting on the loveseat, and by the end of his rant he was standing, looking down his imperious nose at Harry.

“Why do you want me to do it? What about, I don’t know, Blaise?”

Malfoy rolled his eyes and turned away from Harry. “Blaise lives in France.”   
“Wou-”

“With his husband.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t you have any other friends who could do it?” 

“No,” Malfoy said, and when he turned back to Harry, his eyes were glistening. Harry felt a pang of guilt. He wasn’t turning Malfoy away because he didn’t want to help him, he did want to help him, but it would just be too hard to pretend when Harry thought he was starting to have real feelings for Malfoy.

“Look,” Malfoy said. “I thought you’d want to help, you’re always saving people and all that, but if I’m too much of a bother-”

“Wait, Malfoy, wait. You’re not a bother, I just…” Harry trailed off. Malfoy was looking at him with those shiny grey eyes, his despair written all over his face, and Harry couldn’t stand to let him down. “I’ll do it.”

Malfoy looked so relieved and grateful Harry almost thought Malfoy would hug him, but after a moment Malfoy’s face returned to its usual emotionless expression. “Thank you, Potter,” Malfoy said.

Harry sighed. “You should go home and get some rest. Just tell me what time lunch is tomorrow.”

Malfoy raised his eyebrows. “You really thought it would be that easy?” Malfoy shook his head. “We’re going to have to stay up all night learning everything an engaged couple would know about each other. Also, we should start calling each other by our first names.” Malfoy paused a second then said, “Harry.” His lips quirked up in an almost smile.

“Draco,” Harry said, and Draco’s smile grew to full size.

…

They spent hours taking, covering everything from each other’s  favorite Quidditch moves to their least favorite fruit. Harry and Draco found themselves laughing near constantly, and whenever Draco laughed, Harry’s heart felt like a weight had been lifted off of it. 

Around midnight, Draco decided it was time for a hot cocoa break and took the time to teach Harry the ‘proper’ way to fix hot cocoa. They were settling back on Harry’s couch when Draco asked Harry about his childhood. Harry could’ve lied, but he didn’t want to lie, not to Draco.

After confessing the horrors of his childhood, Harry was surprised to find Draco’s arms around him, as Draco was hugging him tightly and saying, “You deserve so much better, Harry.”

“Well, what about your childhood?” Harry asked. Harry was once again surprised, this time by Draco’s openness and honesty. He discovered that Draco’s childhood wasn’t all fairytales and rainbows either. 

…

If what Harry was feeling for Draco the night before could be called a crush, then by morning that crush had blossomed into full-blown romantic passion.

Draco had fallen asleep next to Harry on the couch around four in the morning and now, four hours later, Harry shook him awake. When Draco first awoke he seemed confused and frazzled, but when he saw Harry he smiled a sleepy smile. “Hi. Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“It’s okay. I fell asleep for awhile too.”

“What time is it?”

“Eight.”

Draco nodded in understanding. “Are there any more questions we have to do?”

“Just one, I think. What happened with your fiancés? I mean, you’re pretty much amazing, so it’s hard for me to believe they’d just walk off without any reason.”

Draco grimaced. “I don’t know. I’m the perfect guy: wealthy, attractive, intelligent, witty, attractive.”

Harry chuckled at Draco’s repetition of ‘attractive’. “Well, were you in love with them?”

Draco shook his head vehemently, as if that was the most outrageous thing he’d ever heard. “My parents always told me that love was something that would develop after marriage.”

Harry frowned. “That’s not true. Love doesn’t have any rules. You can fall in love before getting married or after getting married, though most people prefer to be in love before marriage.”

“Why?” 

“I guess so that you know you won’t be spending the rest of your life with someone who doesn’t, uh, complete you or whatever.”

“Strange.”

“You’re strange,” Harry said defensively.

Draco laughed and hit Harry with a decorative pillow, kickstarting a pillow fight full of giggles and smiles and lifted spirits.

…

Another thing that was strange was that Draco’s parents didn’t even seem surprised when they found out that Draco’s new ‘fiancé’ was Harry Potter. So unsurprised, in fact, that they hardly interrogated the couple at all. 

Halfway through the soup course, Harry leaned toward Draco and said to him, “This is going well.”

“Yes,” Draco agreed. A little too well, in Draco’s opinion.

So when Narcissa left the table to reset the fireplace’s fire charms, Draco joined her. Draco stoked the fire as his mother cast the charms. 

“You’re acting different,” Draco said in a hushed tone to his mother. “You and Father. You’re usually much more… intense when meeting someone I bring home.”

Narcissa simply smiled at her son. “That’s because you’re acting different too. You and Harry seem so happy together. I know I used to tell you love would develop after marriage, but I’m glad that you and Harry have found love already. That doesn’t happen often. Hold on to him, Draco.”

Narcissa walked back to the table and Draco’s eyes followed her before focusing on Harry, who was slurping his soup in a most undignified manner. Draco smiled at the sight, and in a rare vulnerable moment, thought to himself that if he and Harry were truly engaged, maybe that would be the engagement that stuck.


End file.
